Amia, The Riddle Girl: Part Two
by Lost1nTheLight
Summary: Amia is prepared for whatever is to come with the new school year. Well, at least she thinks she is. Except it turns out that last year was only the beginning of her adventures. This time she's not alone though, and that's what matters. But will it be enough when her world comes crashing down around her?
1. Chapter 1: Egypt or Hermione

**Author's Note: Okay so this is the next story, I hope you all like it! This first chapter is kind of just to set things up and to see what's happened since the end of the school year. Anyways, please review and tell me what you think!**

Chapter 1: Egypt or Hermione

_A world in which there are monsters,_

_and ghosts,_

_and things that want to steal your heart_

_is a world in which there are angels,_

_and dreams,_

_and a world in which there is hope_

_\- Neil Gaiman_

"Something wrong, Fred, George?" Amia asked innocently. The rest of the family watched the interaction suspiciously.

"No." Fred frowned, adjusting his shirt uncomfortably.

"Nothing at all." George said, doing his best to scratch his back.

"Really?" Ginny raised her eyebrows sweetly, a mischievous glint in her eye to match Amia's. "You look a little awkward."

The twins shook their heads quickly. "No, no."

"We're fine." They responded hastily, not willing to admit any weakness.

"Alright then, if you say so." Amia had to cover her mouth to stop from giggling as the two desperately scratched, the itchiness no doubt relentless.

Finally the boys could no longer take it and threw down their toast, pulling off their pajama shirts and scratching wildly – uncontrollably – at every inch of skin that wasn't covered.

At this point neither Ginny nor Amia could hold it in any longer and both girls burst out laughing.

The twins stopped and slowly looked at them. "Did you two –" Fred shouted.

"You wouldn't!" George exclaimed, eyes blazing.

Amia and Ginny quickly put down their forks and sprinted from the room, Fred and George in hot pursuit.

The sisters ran outside and hid in the garden, watching as the twins searched for them furiously. After a few moments of crouching and grinning like Cheshire cats, the two girls suddenly realized that Fred and George had disappeared. The two glanced at each other in panic. There was no way they would give up that easily – not Fred and George – so them vanishing could only mean one thing. Just as the realization of what had happened dawned on the children and they were about to bolt, they were tackled to the ground by two red-haired fifteen year olds.

They shrieked, partly in shock, partly in fear, partly in delight, partly in laughter, and partly in protest. However the twins had been pranked – the kings of pranksters pranked – and they had decided to teach their two youngest siblings a lesson.

Fred picked a squirming Amia up with difficulty and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. George did the same with Ginny and the boys marched off, away from the house. It was a good thing that the girls were very light, or else their plan would not have worked.

Where were they going? Amia glanced at Ginny in alarm only to see the same expression of panic mirrored back at her.

"Ha! This will teach you not to mess with the greatest pranksters of the wizarding world." Fred proclaimed.

"Well, perhaps with the exception of the Marauders." George added thoughtfully.

Fred nodded seriously. "True." He agreed.

"Who are the Marauders?" Ginny and Amia asked at the same time, temporarily forgetting their predicament.

"Ah, you have much to learn young ones." Fred said.

"The Marauders are legends. The greatest pranksters of all time!" George shouted dramatically, almost throwing Ginny off his shoulder.

"Anyways, back to the point." George continued.

"Although the both of you are rather inexperienced –" Fred said.

"Young –"

"Innocent –"

"Harmless –"

"Pure –"

"Virtuous –"

"And much less expert-y than us."

"The fact that two little girls such as yourselves were able to prank us – the prankster kings – is quite impressive."

"It seems you both have bright futures ahead of you as pranksters."

"With our help and guidance you could be great!"

"Greater than great!"

"The greatest!"

"Well, that is not including us and the Marauders of course."

"Of course."

Ginny and Amia grinned at each other, secretly pleased that the twins thought they were such great pranksters.

"However, sadly –"

"Tragically –"

"You _still _did prank us."

"Which is an act punishable by death."

"But since we are merciful –"

"And you two lovely ladies happen to be our little sisters and despite everything we do rather like you –"

"We will bend ancient pranking rules –"

"Only for you –"

"And minimize the consequences as much as we possibly can."

Amia's eyes widened with fear just as they reached the tiny lake, and both girls – still in their pajamas – were thrown into the water.

Amia came up, spluttering and gasping for air, Ginny breaking the surface at almost the exact same time. Amia didn't wait to regain her breath, just ran out and shoved Fred and George in. They were both so caught off guard that they didn't even try to stop it as they went tumbling in.

Ginny got out and stood beside Amia, laughing as they watched the twins flounder even though it was shallow enough for them to stand in.

Then the girls made their way back to the house, soaked, leaving Fred and George behind.

Of course, the twins would think up some way to get back at them later, for which Amia and Ginny would need to prepare. It was a war. It started a little while ago when the girls had challenged the boys' pranking skills. Some of the other siblings would help one side or the other once in a while, but it was mostly just Fred and George, against Amia and Ginny. The itching powder hadn't come even close to one of the girls' greatest tricks, but it was so old and classic that the twins never saw it coming, that's why they'd been so furious and insulted.

The pranking war was only one part of what had been happening since school had finished. When they'd gotten off the train, and the rest of the family saw Amia and Ginny holding hands and smiling it was like a miracle. Mrs. Weasley had rushed over and squeezed them both tight, Mr. Weasley patting each firmly on the shoulder with a smile as wide as the sun. Bill said nothing, just pulled them into a big hug that meant more than anyone could have explained. It meant that he wanted to say a lot of things but had no words for them so instead he just wrapped his arms around them. It meant that he had missed them. It meant that he was so relieved he could have cried to know that all those times he closed his eyes and wished with all his soul that his two baby sisters would be okay weren't in vain. But most importantly, to Amia, it meant that he loved them and that was the only thing she cared to know.

Charlie almost started crying. Again. He didn't though, because if he did the twins would never let him forget it. They didn't know about last time though. It had only been him and Amia then. He had hugged and kissed Ginny and smiled like a maniac, and then he'd picked Amia up like she was a little girl (and technically she was, plus some rules didn't apply to her seeing as sometimes she did in fact act like an infant anyway), and rested his cheek against hers, hand brushing over where the necklace was under her shirt. "You remembered." He breathed, eyes closed, and it sounded to her almost like he was breathing out all the fear and worry and tension and prayers that he'd been holding onto so tightly since Christmas.

Ron was much less awkward now and far more brotherly. Every time he called her Mia it made her grin from ear to ear.

They'd been sending tons and tons of letters to Harry and Hermione, and in fact, Amia was going to soon be staying with Hermione for a super extra-long sleepover that lasted weeks and Amia was so excited that when Mrs. Weasley had given her the news she'd run around the house and then outside and then jumped into the lake and then back into the house and then out again and then she laid on the grass for a while, too excited to even think about it.

All kinds of other stuff had happened, but basically what it all summed up to was this: Amia was happy. She was happy and she wasn't afraid or sad or empty anymore. She was happy to have a family, and that was it. Last year she'd spent ages wondering about what was going on with her Papa, and let her mind be consumed by fear of what was to happen. She had decided that to live like that was to not live at all, so she'd let it leave her mind, and when she thought about (which she couldn't help from doing now and again) she knew that what was going to happen was going to happen and letting it control her thoughts all the time wasn't going to change anything. So she didn't let it. In the end, the important thing was that if the worst of the worst happened, she still had friends and a family that she loved and that loved her, and that really wasn't that bad, was it? It wasn't bad at all.

"What are you girls doing all wet?" Mrs. Weasley demanded when they got inside.

"Fred and George's fault!" They both said quickly. Apparently this was enough of an explanation in itself because the woman shook her head but Amia saw the smile on her lips.

"Alright well, I think it's time for a bath. Both of you." Mrs. Weasley ordered, pointing upstairs. The two girls grinned and skipped over to the stairs, they didn't mind baths at all.

"Oh, and you might need to get some towels ready for Fred and George when they get back." Ginny called over her shoulder as they ran up to the bathroom, not waiting to see what Mrs. Weasley would say to that information.

* * *

Amia sat on the bathroom floor as Ginny bathed herself, a curtain separating the two girls.

"I can't believe they didn't see that one coming." Ginny's voice came from behind the curtain.

"I know, it was awesome. But now we've got to be really careful." Amia warned.

"Yeah. You're leaving in a few days though and then I guess we'll have to suspend the war because I definitely can't do it without you." Ginny said.

Amia smiled. "I guess we'll just have to continue when I get back."

A sigh. "I'm going to miss you Amia. I can't believe that you're leaving me with _the brothers._"

"Well I'm sure that Hermione would be happy to have you come too –" Amia started, feeling bad.

"No, no, it's okay." Ginny said quickly. "I was only joking. I love you a lot Mia, and I like Hermione too, but you two are much better friends than me and her."

The sound of water draining cut Amia off from whatever she was going to say.

Ginny's hand appeared from behind the curtain. "Pass me my towel?" Amia obliged and a couple seconds later Ginny emerged.

"Go ahead." She told Amia and turned around so that the other girl could have her turn in the bath.

* * *

That night a surprise came. It turned out that Mr. Weasley had won seven _hundred _galleons in an annual Grand Prize Galleon Draw for the Daily Prophet. Amia had never even _heard _of such a huge amount of money. When Mr. Weasley told them there were several different reactions: Ron spat his mouth full of sausage back onto his plate. Fred and George both did double takes and then pulled incredibly conveniently placed firecrackers out of their pockets and set them off. Percy's hand went flying to his mouth but instead knocked his glasses off his face and made them go flying into Mrs. Weasley's hands. Charlie's eyes bulged right out of his head and then a smile the size of the Atlantic Ocean spread across his face. Bill jumped out of his seat and pounded his fists on the table, cheering. Mrs. Weasley was in such shock that she couldn't even reprimand Fred and George for nearly setting Ginny's shirt on fire or Bill for knocking his empty glass of water over from his pounding. It was like she was completely frozen. Ginny choked on her milk and ended up coughing so violently Amia had to slap her on the back as hard as she could and then as she did the milk came back out her nose. She would have been laughed terribly if the situation wasn't what it was.

Amia was part awe-struck, part-confused. She didn't really know how much seven-hundred galleons were or what they could get, except that that was more than she'd ever even thought about before, so it must have been a WHOLE lot.

After everyone calmed down Mrs. Weasley got up and pulled Mr. Weasley into another room without another word. The children all stared at each other silently for a moment, then decided as one that they couldn't just sit and wait in anticipation. So they got up, cleared the table, cleaned the dishes, fixed whatever had been ruined by the firecrackers, Ginny washed her face, and then they sat back down at the spotless table without speaking.

Occasionally they would glance at each other, but then they'd look away and frown at something, too curious about what was happening behind the door that Mrs. Weasley had closed, and too excited by the news they'd been given to keep their eyes on anything too long without exploding. Amia wasn't quite sure why none of them were saying anything but she decided that she better just go along so she didn't mess any unspoken agreement up.

Finally, ages later the door opened. All eight heads snapped in its direction and they watched intently as Mrs. and Mr. Weasley made their way over to the table.

"Thank you very much for cleaning up." Mrs. Weasley said. One of the twins' eye twitched. They didn't have time for such trivial things, they needed to know what was going on!

However Bill, being the oldest and perhaps most mature (perhaps) said, "Of course."

"So. I apologize for that but we needed to discuss some important things. Obviously the most practical way to use the money would be to spend it on fixing the house up some and maybe some new robes and so on." Mrs. Weasley said. You could almost hear the children groaning inside their minds. When you won seven hundred galleons, you did not use it up on something as unexciting as new robes. "However, we have decided that for once we should enjoy something. And all of you deserve to have something special. So, instead, we're going on holiday!"

It was an uproar. Yelling, cheering, jumping up and down. Amia could barely even move from fear that she would get trampled or something of the sort. Charlie ran over and picked both Ginny and Amia up at the same time, and twirled them around. "I can't believe it! A holiday!" Ginny shrieked.

For quite a while it was chaos, and even Mrs. Weasley couldn't reel the children in. When they finally calmed down she spoke again. "Alright, so I want everyone to think about where they want to go tonight. And in the morning you'll all write it down on a piece of paper and we'll look over them and decide. Fair?"

The eight of them nodded their heads furiously and then they thundered up the stairs. Charlie, Ginny and Amia brushed their teeth and put on their pyjamas at lightning speed. And then Amia quickly grabbed her monkey pillow and the three ran down to Bill's room. Even without saying anything they all knew this was the cause of an emergency meeting, which was usually held in the eldest's room. Sometimes they went in Ginny and Amia's, sometimes in Charlie's, and sometimes in Ron's, but Bill's room was regularly the one occupied for meetings such as these. They certainly never went in the twins' room though, because with all of their experiments and pranks and who knew what else it was highly dangerous in there.

As soon as Amia and Ginny sprinted into the room they both leaped onto the bed, yelling their most fearsome battle cries. They'd been performing this exact move all summer long and had long since perfected it. However, what they didn't see as they both flew gracefully onto the mattress, was that it already had other occupants. Just as they opened their eyes and saw that they were about to collide with other human beings, they screamed in a much less artfully practiced way and then were on top of them. Ginny was lucky enough to land on Bill, who was big enough that he could catch her painlessly and settle her onto the bed. Amia was not nearly as fortunate. She crashed right into Ron, who fell back and tumbled onto the floor. Amia went with him and a second later the two were a tangled heap of limbs.

Bill's head popped out from above the bed. "Are you two alright?" He asked worriedly. They both groaned. He and Charlie chuckled.

"I guess that's what you get for doing your warrior leap without looking." Charlie laughed. Amia glared up at him and then rubbed her cheek where she could already feel a bruise starting to form. Once she could breathe again she quickly scrambled off Ron and knelt over him.

"Are you okay Ron? Do you have any broken bones? Your arm? Your leg? Your head?" She asked frantically.

He sat up slightly drunkenly – most likely from dizziness. "Amia . . ." He began, turning to look at her more slowly than it would take a turtle to run a marathon.

"Yes?" She looked at him, eyes wide.

"Ouch." He finally said, then climbed back onto the bed.

For a moment, Amia just sat on the floor, looking up at the rest of them. Then she jumped onto the bed as well, much more carefully this time, and gave Ron a kiss on the cheek – which did nothing to heal his wounds but at least took the glare off his face.

Once everyone was there Bill began the meeting. "Alright. We have a most serious matter on our hands. Although mum and dad have decided to go on a holiday, by morning they'll already be thinking about what money they can save blah blah blah and trying to find the cheapest place to go. Now, it will be a difficult task to overrule the two of them, seeing as their strength and determination has seldom wavered before, but I believe if we unite, together the eight of us can hold our own and convince them that practicality is not the answer!" He shouted, eyes blazing with the light of rebellion. Everyone but Percy cheered in agreement.

"So we should all decide on one place together so our argument is solid." Bill concluded. The others nodded.

For approximately twenty eight minutes numerous random answers were thrown out and shot down or discussed, until finally the moment of truth came when both George, Charlie _and _Ginny said at the same time, "Egypt!"

Astonished silence fell over the group. Never before had THREE children agreed on something at the same time. Never.

"Well is anyone opposed?" Bill raised his eyebrows, looking around. No one said anything. "Egypt it is then."

They all cheered and celebrated, Amia having not gone anywhere but Hogwarts and the Weasleys' house other than her home with her Papa before in her life, was perhaps the most excited of all. That all changed when one person, the only one in the room that had the ability to think reasonably spoke up.

"But aren't you off to that friend of yours, Granger's, Amia? The only way for you to come is to cancel." Percy interrupted.

All faces turned to him. Then to Amia. As the silence wore on they became more and more panicked at what their sister's reaction would be to this development. Her eyes began to twitch slightly as she stared at Percy. She clenched her fists around her shirt and was about to open her mouth when Charlie's instincts kicked in. To avoid the devastating catastrophe that was undoubtedly about to happen, he rushed over to Amia and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. We just need to figure out a solution. Maybe we can shorten the holiday so we can have it after you get back?"

Obviously no one was in favour of that option, and Amia knew it. She sighed disappointedly. There were only two choices. She didn't go to Hermione's, or she didn't go to Egypt. She frowned and bit her lip, thinking it over. They all watched her apprehensively. No one wanted her to miss the opportunity to go to a whole new part of the world when she'd never been anywhere before, but they didn't want her to have to pick between that and her friend either.

After quite a bit of thinking, she straightened. "I'll go to Hermione's. It would be lovely to go to Egypt and be with all of you, but I miss Hermione lots. Plus if I don't go on holiday then you won't have to pay for me and we can save some of the money."

Evidently there was no changing her mind so they all just nodded. "Okay Amia, I wish you were coming but if you want to go visit Hermione then I think you'll have a wonderful time." Ginny told her reassuringly. "We'll tell mum and dad in the morning."

With that the meeting was finished and they all made their way back to their rooms, everyone patting Amia on the shoulder because it was obvious that she would have loved to go to Egypt. On their way out Fred and George both hit Percy on the back of the head. The problem would have come up at one point or another but any chance they got to blame something on Percy they would take.

The truth was that although the prospect of going to Egypt was more exciting than you could imagine, Amia was slightly terrified of going to a place so unknown and far away, and even though she would be with the Weasleys all she really wanted was to see her friends again, and so even though it made her a little sad not to go, she was perfectly content to visit Hermione.

* * *

"Alright then dear, if that's what you want." Mrs. Weasley patted Amia's shoulder when she told her that she wasn't going to go on holiday with them the next morning. "I think that it's only fair we get something for you with some of the money that you're saving by not going. Is there anything you'd like?"

Amia perked up instantly. "A monkey!" She shouted without hesitation.

Mrs. Weasley winced. "Yes, well I'm not sure if that's possible at this exact moment. Is there anything else?" The rest of the children had to stifle their laughter.

Amia thought for a moment. "Ice cream?"

"But you could have ice cream right now, I mean something special." Mrs. Weasley tried again.

Amia wasn't listening though. "I can have ice cream right now?! For breakfast?! Really?!" She looked up at Mrs. Weasley with her huge grey eyes and furrowed her brow.

"Well –" It seemed that the kind-hearted woman was about to refuse Amia's puppy dog face, but instead she threw her hands in the air. "Alright then why not? Yes Amia, you can have ice cream for breakfast."

Amia's mouth dropped open and then she smiled one of the biggest smile anyone had ever seen her smile before. "Thank you, thank you! We don't need to get anything else, this is good enough!"

Then she raced into the kitchen to decide what kind of ice cream she wanted. Fred and George stepped up to face their mother incredulously. "Mother, are you really only going to let one of your children have ice cream while the others have to watch in silent suffering? Are you really going to subject us to that?"

Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes. "Fine. You know what? Everyone can have ice cream sundaes for breakfast how about that? But just as a treat this once."

The children cheered and then off they went to prepare their breakfasts, each with a different insane combination.

Amia picked just plain vanilla, her recently discovered favourite ice cream (she had a new favourite every week), and put caramel on top, as well as all manner of sweets and slices of banana to top it off. And then as a finishing touch she drowned it all in whip-cream. However that was nothing compared to the twins' they had put a scoop of every kind of ice cream the Weasleys' had in and covered it with chocolate and strawberry and caramel sauce and then like Amia piled sweets on. No banana or anything at all healthy for them.

Once they all had their sundaes they sat at the table and ate. By the end, the bottom half of Amia's face had so much ice cream and whip cream and caramel sauce and chocolate chips on it that she looked like a Santa that had gotten into the pantry.

That afternoon they all had tummy aches. Though Amia suspected the twins' might have been faking so they could get out of cleaning the attic. Surprisingly she didn't mind, even her stomach ache wasn't that bad. She was just happy. And when you were as happy as she was it was incredibly difficult to dampen the mood. Even with a stomach ache.

**Please review it would mean a lot. :)**

**Love,**

**Lost1nTheLight**


	2. Chapter 2: Together Again

**Author's Note: Okay so I realize that I haven't updated in a long, long time and I don't have an excuse really that can make up for it. Basically the only explanation I have is that recently I lost someone who I love very much, so things have been a little difficult lately. Anyway, I'm sorry for not updating, but I'll try to do better, and for the people who have waited I'm very grateful for your patience. **

**Love,**

**Lost1nTheLight**

Chapter 2: Together Again

"Are you sure it's a good idea to use floo powder?" Charlie asked skeptically. "Hermione's parents are muggles after all, are they not?"

"Yes dear," Mrs. Weasley answered distractedly as she fussed with Amia's hair and clothes. "But Hermione is a _witch, _I'm sure she'll have told them all about these kinds of things."

Charlie sighed and shook his head in surrender. "If you say so."

Mrs. Weasley didn't appear to have heard him. She brushed some non-existent dust off of Amia's dress and smiled. "Alright, are we ready?"

The Weasleys were completely packed for their trip, Amia had her trunk with all her school supplies and everything she needed. They were set. The plan was for Charlie, Fred, George, Ron and Mrs. Weasley to drop her off at Hermione's, then they would return and almost immediately be off to Egypt.

Amia nodded and then prepared herself for the good-byes. Mr. Weasley put a hand on her shoulder and smiled as they bid each other farewell. Bill ruffled her hair and started to say good bye but Amia jumped into his arms and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which he returned, laughing. Percy nodded at her in that stiff way of his, but Amia flung her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. Percy was frozen in shock for a moment, but then chuckled and patted her on the head. When it was Ginny's turn the she stared at Amia for a few seconds, then the two opened their mouths and screamed almost identical war cries, running at each other and then crashing into a hug, which they held for a very long time until Mrs. Weasley was forced to pull them apart, reminding the girls that it was only for a few weeks, not for 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years.

Then they were off, and Amia had to go through the same horrendous experience of being caught on fire, and suddenly as she was disappearing into the green flames she was terrified she would lose them again, and this time Harry wasn't here to save her.

Thankfully, when she reappeared in the Grangers' fireplace Charlie and Ron were already there, greeting Hermione's shocked parents. The first thing she said when she stepped out of the fireplace was, "I miss Harry." As soon as she did she was engulfed in a hug by a bushy haired girl.

"Me too." Hermione mumbled into Amia's shoulder. "But you're here now and it's going to be wonderful. Oh I'm so excited!"

"So am I." Amia giggled and the two girls danced around each other for a few minutes, simply happy to be together.

Once they composed themselves Hermione introduced Amia to her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Granger both nodded and stammered out hellos, still shaken by the Weasleys' entrance, but Amia was so happy that she couldn't help herself from flinging her arms around both of them, leaving them even more baffled than they had been before.

"Well, I suppose it's time to say good-bye," Mrs. Weasley reminded everyone a little while after things calmed down a bit.

Amia's smile faltered and she drew in a deep sigh. First she hugged Mrs. Weasley and reassured her several times that she would be alright and promised not to do anything stupid like decide to ride a lion or jump into a well. Why Mrs. Weasley thought that she would ever do anything like that Amia didn't have the slightest clue, but she swore she wouldn't nonetheless. "Oh I'm going to miss you very much, dear." Mrs. Weasley told her one last time, smoothing back Amia's hair. Amia smiled and kissed her cheek.

Fred and George, so she wouldn't forget that they had a war going on while she was with Hermione, decided to stuff a handful of live crayfish down her shirt as a good-bye. Thankfully Mrs. Weasley made them disappear before she could be completely devoured by the vicious little creatures. "There, now you'll remember." George announced after both of them being reprimanded.

Amia shook her head. "Did you think I was going to forget?"

That made the twins smile and then squish her into a rather painful hug, each planting a kiss on the top of her head. They didn't even slobber all over her, which meant that they were going to miss her as well.

Ron was his awkward self and only gave her a loose hug and a pat on the shoulder, but Amia was still rather upset by the time it was Charlie's turn. She'd only been away from the Weasleys for so long when she'd gone to Hogwarts, and that hadn't ended up the way anyone could have guessed it would've. At least they were still a family this time.

"Hey, little girl." Charlie chuckled when she ran straight into his arms. "You'll be alright, you've got Hermione. You two will have a wonderful time. We'll see you again before you go to school anyway. There's no need to be sad."

Of course there was no need to be sad, that didn't stop her though. Amia pressed her face against his shirt so that only he could hear her muffled words. "I'm going to miss you so much though, what if something terrible happens?" Charlie was always the one who saved her when bad things happened. Him and Harry, which when she thought about it was a little odd seeing as she'd been terrified of both of them in the beginning.

"I promise nothing bad is going to happen. And if it does you've got Hermione. She seems like a pretty good friend. I think you can definitely trust her." He whispered reassuringly. Amia nodded. She felt silly, but at the same time she didn't care in the slightest. If she wanted to miss them irrationally then she would, and it was too bad for anyone who disagreed.

"Alright then we'd better be off. Good-bye, dear. We'll see you again soon." Mrs. Weasley said. Amia stepped back and waved to them all until every single one had disappeared into the green flames again.

Amia just stood there for a moment and stared at the fireplace, and then she and Hermione ran upstairs to put Amia's bag away. Once they had Amia frowned at the floor and crossed her arms. "I hate good-byes." She announced.

"I do too." Hermione told her. "But to tell you the truth I think there are very few times when you ever are _really _saying good-bye to anyone. So you don't have to be sad. Let's just think of them as . . . temporary periods of separation in which only your bodies are far away from each other, but not your hearts."

Amia looked up at the girl and then smiled. "Okay, let's. You know that was a rather beautiful thing to say Hermione."

Hermione grinned back. "I know." And they both laughed.

* * *

A little while after everything had settled down, Amia and Hermione were off to take a walk. Amia had never actually really been in the normal muggle world before, and was ridiculously excited. Unreasonably excited. When she'd been with her Papa she was never allowed outside, and with the Weasleys everything was magical, so just going on an ordinary walk was completely new for her.

Hermione's parents were a little reluctant to let them go alone but Amia convinced them by showing them how fierce her battle cry was, and certainly no one would dare harm them when she had a battle cry like that. Either that or they were simply frightened by her and wanted the two girls to get out of the house so they could call the nearest insane asylum to take Amia away as soon as she and Hermione got back. Amia wasn't too worried no matter which of the two options it was. After all, she was a witch, she was confident she'd be able to take anyone and everyone who stood in her path. Well, almost anyone. Perhaps not a giant, though she would do her best to try if it came to it.

Amia decided she needed to wear her best outfit if they were going out on a walk, since she'd never done such a thing before and it was definitely a special occasion. So she put on a white summer dress Mrs. Weasley had made for her, her favourite socks with monkeys on them, and a pair of Ginny's old sneakers that tied up above her ankles. She also brought an umbrella, even though the sky was clearer than it had been in days.

"Why are you carrying that umbrella, Amia?" Hermione asked as they stepped into the street.

"Why not?" Was the only response she received as Amia marvelled at the everything around her. It was wonderful. "This is lovely." She smiled.

"Yes I suppose it is." Hermione agreed. As they made their way down the streets to where there were many more people, Amia grinned at everyone they passed. A few smiled back, a few nodded, a few just kept walking, slightly confused, a few frowned at her as if it were a crime to smile, and one little boy of maybe five or six ran away screaming at the top of his lungs. Amia was very affronted by this and almost ran after him, although what she would do she had no idea – force him to smile perhaps? Hermione stopped her though. However a couple seconds later the boy appeared back in front of them, grabbed Amia's hand, kissed it, and ran away again. Both girls stares after him in astonishment.

"Is that . . . normal?" Amia asked uncertainly once the boy was long gone.

"Uh – I –" Hermione seemed to be at a loss for words. Amia quickly wiped her hand off on her dress, because she didn't want a stranger's slobber all over her, but even as they continued she couldn't stop smiling. The muggle world was certainly as incredible as the wizarding world, if you knew how to let it be.

"Ooh, let's go in here." Hermione suddenly pulled Amia through a doorway. "This is one of my favourite places." She whispered as they stepped inside.

It was a tiny bookshop. There were shelves upon shelves crammed into the small space. Old, slightly battered books were lining the walls, stacked on the floors, threatening to come tumbling down at any moment. A tidy looking man looked up when they entered. He had circle glasses – a little like Harry's, dark hair combed neatly back with tiny slivers of gray glinting here and there, and as he walked over Amia noticed a slight limp.

"Hello Mr. Quinton!" Hermione greeted the man cheerfully, beaming.

"Lovely to see you again Miss. Hermione. Who is this young lady you've brought with you?" He nodded to Amia. She gave him her biggest smile, grabbed his hand and kissed it. His face went bright red and he coughed, looking away. Hermione quickly grabbed the girl by the arm and led her into the maze of book shelves.

"What are you doing?!" Hermione hissed when they were out of Mr. Quinton's sight.

Amia shrugged. "I thought that's what you did with muggles."

"No! That's not what you do with muggles! Especially not with Mr. Quinton!" Hermione's face had gone red and Amia was taken aback.

"Oh. Sorry." She frowned.

"You should be!"

Amia didn't reply to that, instead she marched up to the front of the bookstore where Mr. Quinton was sat recovering behind the counter. "My deepest and sincerest apologies, sir." She stated formally.

He looked up at the girl, and then to Hermione who had followed behind and was sending him an apologetic look. Then to both of their great surprise he chuckled, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with the fabric of his shirt.

Once he had finished, he leaned forward, chin resting on his clasped hands. "That's quite alright. Now, what can I do for the two of you today?"

Amia glanced back at Hermione in surprise to see if this was normal behaviour or if this man was just insane, but she was grinning.

* * *

"Alright, I've narrowed it down to a decision between these ones." Amia declared, eyes scanning over the selection in front of her.

"Amia!" Hermione practically shouted. "That's twenty six books! I told you that we can only get one each!"

"But it's so hard to choose!" Amia moaned.

Mr. Quinton or knelt down beside the two children on the floor. "I think you should get this one." He tapped the worn cover of one titled 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'. I'll keep the rest here for you, and when you're finished you can come back and choose another, alright?"

Amia looked up at him. "Alright."

On her other side Hermione sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

Amia whipped around and stuck her tongue out, which only made Hermione laugh and then Amia laugh and then Mr. Quinton laugh, until they were all rolling on the floor in giggles. Well, not Mr. Quinton but he still found it amusing.

As they were exiting the shop with Amia's new treasure, she turned to Hermione. "Why were you blushing when I kissed Mr. Quinton?"

"Because it was embarrassing!"

Amia raised her eyebrows. "You like him don't you?"

A deep crimson spread across the other girl's cheeks. "Don't be silly. Mr. Quinton is a grown man, how could I possibly _like _him?" She said the word 'like' as if it were an insect she didn't want to get close to.

"That's true," Amia said thoughtfully. "I don't know how you could possibly _like _him, but I'm pretty sure that what you're feeling is illegal."

"Amia!" Hermione exclaimed, hitting her on the arm.

"What? I'm not going to tell anyone." She protested.

"You better not."

It was silent for a few moments. "He is very likable though."

"I know right?" Hermione said it the way you would giddily whisper something that's against the rules, and they both giggled at the secret they shared.

* * *

"What took you two so long?" The Grangers ambushed the girls as soon as they stepped into the house.

Hermione winced. "Sorry, mum, dad, we went to the book store and Amia took a long time choosing."

Amia had never seen protective parents in the sense of the word that the Grangers were, and she wasn't quite sure what to do so she held up her book. "Look what I got though." She showed them.

"Oh that's a good one." Mrs. Granger commented.

"True." Mr. Granger agreed. "I suppose it's a bit ridiculous to be so worried, but next time please check in with us if the two of you are going to stay out later than planned, yes?"

Hermione nodded. "Alright." Then she grabbed Amia's hand and dragged her upstairs to her bedroom. Amia was strangely obsessed with bedrooms and when she'd first seen Hermione's she'd thought it was a masterpiece. An entire wall was lined with shelves and books, like her very own mini-library. The other walls were light blue. There was only one section that was obscured which was right above her bed. There were photos, posters, even a few drawings all stuck in perfectly neat, measured way. Hermione had a very large bed with lots of pillows and it was always tidily made up. She also had a very small fireplace much to Amia's delight; not that they could use it because it was summer but still it was amazing. Beside her bed on the floor they'd put down a mattress for Amia to sleep on and given her more blankets and pillows than she could have hoped for (she also had a strange thing about beds). Amia didn't know why she liked bedrooms so much. She'd decided that it must be because of the way they all seemed like home, even the ones that weren't in your own house. Someone's bedroom was a part of them. An important part.

Once Hermione closed the door behind her she raised her eyebrows. "Good thing Mr. Quinton has a good taste in books or we would have gotten in trouble."

"Would we really have?" Amia asked, surprised. The Grangers didn't seem like the sort of parents how liked to establish strict discipline.

"Not in big trouble, they probably would have just given me a disappointed look, which I hate, but I still don't like getting in trouble anyway. Although with you around it's become a bit of a habit."

"Hey!" Amia shoved the other girl a little and she fell onto the bed, laughing. Poor Hermione, from the little Amia actually new about parents (basically nothing since she'd never had a real one before in her life), those 'disappointed looks' seemed a lot worse than actual punishments.

Amia knew that Hermione's parents were not in fact trying to make her feel bad, and they probably only did it because they didn't want to yell at their daughter, but like most adults she'd met, Amia thought they were probably the kind that had forgotten what it was like to be a child. The kind that had forgotten that tiny things other people hardly noticed somehow managed to wriggle inside your head when you were young and stay there for a long, long time.

* * *

Every day at Hermione's was brilliant. Slowly the Grangers got more used to Amia's Amia-ness, and soon it felt as if she belonged in that house almost – but not quite – as much as she belonged at the Weasleys'. They went to the movies, took a road trip to the beach where they stayed all day long and both girls feel asleep in the car when they drove back. They visited the book store on multiple occasions and Hermione and Amia shared secrets about the lovely state of Mr. Quinton's luscious hair. They went on adventures through the city and got lost and met strangers who sometimes kissed Amia's hand the way that boy had (apparently Amia's hands were extremely kissable). They danced outside in the rain – getting soaked since that was the only time Amia refused to hold an umbrella over their heads (which Hermione found completely inexplicable). They tried to bake brownies and Amia put such a large mountain of icing on top of hers that she couldn't fit it in her mouth. Amia had even explained to the other girl about her monkey pillow one night as she clutched it lovingly to herself. Hermione had been wondering about it for a long time seeing as she had never once seen Amia sleeping without it, at Hogwarts or otherwise. In the end, Amia would never have traded it for Egypt, and she felt so close to Hermione by the time their visit ended (but not really ended) that they might as well have been shoved against each other in a small box.

Then it was over, and it seemed to Amia as if it had barely been a day since she'd arrived. However she was beyond excited to be meeting the Weasleys at the Leaky Cauldron. There had been more than one evening where she'd felt so homesick she physically could not eat. It had actually been very worrying, but she was fine of course. In fact, she was so excited to see them after what seemed like _so _long that she had to run up and down the staircase of the Granger house twenty-six times the morning before they got into the car to drive to the inn. She had also insisted on saying good-bye to everything in the house at least two times, and the Grangers weren't sure whether to be alarmed, amused, or annoyed. Hermione knew that it was just Amia though, being Amia, and there certainly wasn't anything to be alarmed about. Probably.

In the car she was no better. Half the time she rambled on about things that made no sense to anyone but her at a pace too fast for anyone to understand anyway, the other half she just stared silently out the window – fingers twitching ever so slightly. Every once in a while an enormous smile would stretch across her face when she couldn't contain it any longer, but then she would quickly replace it with a serene expression, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Granger wondering if it was possible she might have a personality disorder.

By the time they arrived Amia was practically vibrating with anticipation, and she leapt out of the car before it was even fully stopped. However when the time came to say good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Granger she miraculously became completely calm, hugging both of them before they could protest.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay with your family. I've had such a lovely time, and I hope that I will be able to see you again. It has been an honour to visit you." She nodded at them graciously and then pulled her trunk from the back, both adults in too much shock to do anything but stare. Thankfully, they were able to recover before she left them and Hermione to bid each other farewell. "Amia," Mr. Granger called out. "It's been a pleasure having you, and I'm very glad we've gotten to know you."

"You are welcome anytime." Mrs. Granger smiled gently at the little girl and Amia's cheeks went a little red as she thanked them and left.

The Grangers really were beautiful people, just like Amia had known their daughter was the first moment she saw her.

Amia had to wander around a bit inside the Leaky Cauldron before she found her way to where the Weasleys were supposedly waiting for her. It took longer than it should have because she was too shy to ask anyone for help, and in fact shrunk away when anyone came near. She managed to find them though, and as soon as she did she ran and threw her arms around the closest person to her. Who just so happened to be Percy Weasley.

The tall boy stumbled back in surprise and from the sheer force of her embrace. "A-Amia." He stuttered, at a loss for words.

"I missed you so much!" She cried into his shirt, squeezing tighter.

"Ah what are you talking about you crazy girl, how could you miss Percy?" A voice chimed from her left.

"And why would you hug him before us when we're so obviously much nicer to hug?" An identical voice added.

Amia quickly let go of Percy who was still speechless, and flung herself into the arms of Fred and George.

"There we go." Fred chuckled, placing a hand on her head.

"I guess you weren't brainwashed at Hermione's house after all." George sighed in relief.

"Don't be ridiculous." An indignant voice came from the doorway as Hermione stepped inside. "If there's anyone capable of brainwashing it's the two of you."

Fred and George both just scoffed as if that was the most absurd thing they'd ever heard. Amia however, was already rushing over to Ron who greeted her with an awkward pat on the shoulder that made almost everyone in the room roll their eyes. When she saw Ginny the two of them froze, stared at each other for a moment, then yelled their fiercest battle cries, barreling toward each other and surprisingly enough managing to instead of trample one another, gracefully switch from charging to embracing. The others stared in amazement. Apparently all the hours of covering their ears to block out the warrior screams had actually amounted to something.

Bill, who was feeling rather impatient after not seeing his sister for so long, didn't wait for them to break apart, instead he picked both of them up and tightened his hold, half so there was no chance that they could slip from his arms and break their heads on the floor, and half in a hug. Both girls laughed and placed kisses on his opposite cheeks in such a synchronized way it would have been frightening if it wasn't hilarious.

When Bill let them down Amia leapt into Charlie's arms, letting out a surprised shriek that soon turned into giggling when he swung her up onto his shoulders. "I missed you, you ridiculous child." He shook his head and Amia rested her chin happily on it.

"When he says that it is not to be taken lightly." Bill informed her with raised eyebrows. "He missed you so much that he cried the entire trip. In fact, his tears created a second Nile."

Amia burst into laughter as Charlie lunged at Bill, and then slapped her hands across his face so she didn't fall. "That is the most untruthiest untruth – thing – or, _whatever _I have ever heard." Charlie's indignation seemed to be making it hard for him to speak using actual words that existed.

"And look now that we've got her back you're trying to paralyze her!" Bill reached out and lifted Amia right off of his brother's shoulders, tall enough that he could smoothly place her onto his own. Amia relaxed as soon as she was seated safely above Charlie's reach. It wasn't that she didn't like sitting on Charlie's shoulders, it was just that there was enough of a height difference between him and Bill that she knew he wouldn't try to get her back, and no matter how thrilling it was, she found the thought of being grabbed and passed around in the air rather frightening.

So she stayed on Bill's shoulders, Charlie only scowling for about half a second before his face split into a grin once again.

* * *

The real trouble began later, after they'd gone out to purchase their new school books and everything they needed for Hogwarts. It was then that Amia was most glad to be carried by Bill, and not Charlie. Although she'd gone to London with Hermione, and been at Hogwarts for an entire year already she was still completely unreasonably terrified to be in such an enormous, pressing crowd. Hogwarts was not nearly as suffocating and it felt less like a crowd and more like a family. Like one very large home with hundreds of children and several parents. Amia liked that. In fact she loved it, even if some of the parents were scary (Filch did not count as a parent). And being in London with Hermione was also far more relaxed. They'd kept to the less populated areas since Hermione wasn't allowed to go into the centre of the city without her parents, and for some reason that Amia could not comprehend muggles seemed quite a bit calmer than wizards, at least in the places they'd gone to. Here everyone was loud and shoving against each other and there were so many voices and so many things going on at once it made her head hurt.

Bill being as tall as he was though, helped make her feel a little farther away from the chaos, and if she pressed her face against his long hair (that smelled quite nice by the way, and was also very soft) and closed her eyes she could almost pretend that she was somewhere else.

However, it became increasingly hard to detach herself as they headed back to the inn because of a few people. Two people in particular. Ron and Hermione who were, as usual, arguing. The problem seemed to be one of Hermione's purchases: the girl had bought herself a cat. A seemingly harmless cat whose face looked like it had been run over by a bus. Now that was what freaked Amia out, but Ron had a different worry. Apparently he thought that the cat was going to eat his rat. Which rhymed. Anyway, Amia didn't see the issue, in fact she thought it would be absolutely splendid if somehow the cat and rat ate each other, and then maybe both Hermione and Ron could get nice pets, who were actually friendly.

She decided not to intervene though, knowing full well that when the two began bickering there was really no point in trying to help. The solution most of the time was to just let them be, and they'd keep at it for so long that eventually they'd forget what they were fighting about.

All of these thoughts vanished immediately when they returned. Because standing in the inn was a black haired boy with green eyes who looked possibly even scrawnier than the last time she'd seen him, and so tired it was entirely reasonable to wonder if he'd slept at all in the past two months, and Amia had never been happier to see anyone in her life.

She practically ripped Bill's hair out trying to get down from his shoulders, but he just chuckled and set her on the floor. Immediately she tackled him, almost knocking the both of them to the ground, but thankfully Harry had had the good sense to steady himself against a table as soon as he'd seen Amia's expression which he knew could only mean one thing: violent and likely painful affection that may or may not leave him in the hospital.

Of course, she stepped back after only a few moments to make space for Ron to greet his best friend, and then Hermione, but once everyone else had finished their greetings she'd thrown her arms around him again and this time she had no intention of letting go.

"It's nice to see you too, Amia." His voice was muffled and he probably was finding it a bit difficult to breathe, but because he was Harry and she was Amia, he hugged her back anyway. What Amia didn't expect was for Hermione to join the embrace, and then for _Ron _to do the same. She was so surprised that an amazed giggle escaped her lips, and just like that it was as if the four of them had never been apart.

**Please review, it would mean a lot to me.**

**Love,**

**Lost1nTheLight**


	3. Chapter 3: The Dementor

**Author's Note: I must apologize deeply for taking sooooo long to update, but first I was on vacation and then I lost my copy of the Prisoner of Azkaban. I finally found it so I'm writing again, but I'm very very very very sorry. I also am so thankful to everyone who reviewed and followed and favourited and all those things, thank you so much and I really hope you keep reading. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and please leave a review, it would make me SOOO happy.**

**Love,**

**Lost1nTheLight**

Chapter 3: The Dementor

Amia found it very painful to have to say so many good byes and to have so little time with her family in between. First she'd gone to Hermione's, then she'd returned, and then so soon afterwards they were arriving at Platform Nine and Three Quarters and it was good bye all over again.

She found that she was . . . frightened. She didn't want to leave again. What if something terrible happened the way it had last year?

She really just wanted to be with her family and help Mrs. Weasley cook dinner and play pranks on Fred and George and lay in the grass with Ginny and watch Ron do atrocious imitations of Percy.

But there was nothing to do about it now. There was nothing to do but say good bye to the people she loved most and wave at them from the train until they disappeared.

"It will be okay. It won't be like last year. I promise." Harry whispered into her ear very quietly so no one else could hear when she sat back down (as far away as possible from the strange man sleeping in the compartment) and stared at the floor for while.

Amia didn't see how he could be so sure, but she trusted Harry, so she nodded and lifted her head.

Hermione was saying that the man sleeping in their compartment was someone named 'Professor R. J. Lupin', and that he must teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.

They talked about Sirius Black – who Amia hadn't ever heard of before just then. She didn't join in, just listened, and when they changed the subject to Hogsmeade she slipped out.

She wandered down the corridor of the train, opening every single compartment door she passed to ask about the person she was looking for. Finally, she found him, sitting, staring out the window, with his toad in hand.

"Neville!" She yelled (far too loudly) and lunged at the boy, landing half on the seat, half on his lap and almost squishing Trevor in the process (she was not at all remorseful). "I missed you so much!"

Neville stared at the little girl looking up at him with sparkling eyes, and a large smile split across his face. "Amia! I haven't seen you in ages."

"I know! I missed you so much. Come sit with me and my compartment okay? It's so lovely to see you."

Neville nodded. "You too, Amia."

The girl stood and pulled Neville up with her and then dragged him down the hall to where Ron and Harry and Hermione were. However to her surprise, they weren't the only ones there.

"Draco!" Amia sang, slinging an arm around his shoulders. His bodyguards glowered and stepped forward, but she took no notice. "How are you? Well? It's been so long I'm sure everyone missed your annoying face, but unfortunately you're going to have to take your insults elsewhere because there's no room in this compartment for your enormous ego. Bye!" She steered him out of the room, then pushed Crabbe and Goyle out after him, and closed the door. Malfoy stared in through the window, his face twisting into a very unpleasant scowl, but Amia just waved and sat down beside Hermione.

Ron was laughing, Neville was looking slightly stunned, Hermione just rolled her eyes and Harry had to suppress a smile. "So why –"

The train slowed and Amia's voice trailed off. She shared a confused look with Hermione. It wasn't this short last year, was it? Why were they stopping?

Amia glanced out the window, all she could see was darkness and tiny droplets sliding down the glass reflecting the light from the corridor. They were so . . . lovely. Like little tiny liquid crystals each with a single star trapped inside. She reached up to unlock the latch, but a hand quickly grabbed hers. "Amia, what are you doing?" Harry demanded.

She tilted her head to the side and the look on her face was so puzzled that it made everyone else in the compartment feel puzzled as well (other than the Lupin man). "The rain," was her explanation and Harry just shook his head.

"Don't do that now. I'm not sure why not but something feels strange so just keep the windows shut, okay?"

Amia only agreed because his explanation was about as bad as hers. They watched as Harry stood to see what was going on in the corridor, and a second later it all went dark. Amia's eyes widened, as if making them bigger would allow her to see, and she immediately reached out for a hand. She didn't care whose it was (as long as it wasn't the professor because first of all she didn't know him and second of all she wasn't completely convinced that he wasn't dead and holding a dead body's hand was not something she was eager to do). The first one she found was soft and the fingers were slender. Hermione. It was also unusually cold, but that wasn't something to be worrying about at the moment.

"Amia, is that you?" Hermione whispered into the darkness.

"It's me." She confirmed. "Why is it so dark?"

No one answered. No one knew.

A shape moved towards the window and then Ron's voice came. "There's something moving out there. I think people are coming aboard . . ."

He tried to sit back down but fell over the tangle of feet and landed next to Amia. She scooted over so he could have more room and held onto him.

"Amia?" He asked, his hand coming up to feel her face.

"Bleh," Amia leaned away from him when he almost poked her eye out at the same time as putting his hand over her mouth. "Yes. Please take your hand away. Neville, are you okay?"

"Um, yes." The boy sounded like he was struggling with something and a second later she felt someone gripping her leg very tightly. It hurt a little but she didn't say anything. "Is this your leg, Amia?"

"Yes."

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on." Hermione announced.

"Wait, Hermione I'll come with you." Amia said, but before she could stand there was a thud and two squeals. The fact that Amia was still holding her friend's hand didn't help either, so when Hermione went down Amia went down with her. And because Amia was still attached to Ron and Neville, they all ended up in a heap of limbs and groans of pain.

"Wait, who's that?"

"What's going on?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"Ron your elbow is on my face!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for Ron and Amia –"

"Ouch, Neville could you move your foot please?"

"Come in and sit down –"

"Not here! I'm here!"

"Ouch!"

Just as they were untangling and sorting themselves out a hoarse voice suddenly commanded, "Quiet!"

They were quiet.

A weak light appeared, and with it came the face of Professor Lupin. So he wasn't dead. Or maybe he was. His face was almost ghostly. Pale and hollow and very, very tired. "Stay where you are."

However before he could make it to wherever he was going, before he could even make it to the door, something else opened it first. When Amia saw it she immediately knew that it was most certainly a some_thing_, and not a some_one_.

It was a cloak. There might have been something underneath it, but Amia couldn't see anything other than darkness and the cloak. A movement caught her eye and she looked down just in time to see something awful being retracted and then disappearing into the cloak. It was like a hand almost . . . but not. It was like a hand of a corpse, skeletal but the flesh hadn't completely come off yet.

Amia shivered and unconsciously slid away from it until her back hit the wall. It made a sound like it was inhaling, and a chill settled into the air. It was more than a chill. It was freezing. Amia could feel it seeping into her clothing and her skin and her bones and her mind and her heart.

Through the piercing cold she saw Harry collapse. She tried to go to him, but she was shaking so violently that as soon as she tried to stand all she could do was sink to her knees.

_"Please. Have mercy."_

_ "Me? Mercy?" Laughter. Almost as cold as the air around her._

Amia stared at the ground without seeing, gripping the hem of her shirt so tightly her knuckles were white. It couldn't stop the trembling though.

_Glass, shattering. _

_ "Trust me, Amia." A whisper. "I love you."_

She shook her head. No. No no no no no no no.

_"You are MINE!"_

_ Mine._

_ Mine._

_ Mine._

_ Mine._

_ Laughter. _

* * *

"Amia? Amia, snap out of it." Ginny waved her hand in front of her face and Amia blinked, looking up at her.

"Ginny?" There was light again. The cloak was gone and the darkness was gone but the voice wasn't. She could still hear it.

"Come on, stop staring at the floor, are you alright?"

Amia nodded numbly and looked over to where Ron and Hermione were kneeling next to Harry. He looked terrible. Like he had a fever and had just woken up from a nightmare.

In fact they all looked terrible. Amia put a hand on Ginny's shoulder and squeezed, then she forced herself to get up. She was unbalanced and shaky, and when she sat down in her seat she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, staring out the window.

She listened to what they were saying, but she felt detached. A Dementor. Sirius Black. Azkaban. Silver out of wands. Professor Lupin.

Amia clutched the fabric of her pants.

_Mine._

_ Laughter._

"Here." A hand blocked her view. It was holding a piece of chocolate. "It will make you feel better."

Amia looked up to see Professor Lupin was attached to the hand. "I'm not hungry." She told him quietly.

"I know." But he didn't move.

Amia didn't move either. It's wasn't that she was opposed to taking the chocolate, even if she didn't eat it. It was just that she was afraid if she let go of her pant legs her hands would start to shake again and she didn't want that to happen.

The professor sighed. "It's okay. After seeing a Dementor you couldn't expect anything better. The chocolate will help."

She lifted her hand and Professor Lupin placed the sweet in it and left.

"Amia? What happened to you? Did you hear the screaming, too?" Ron asked.

She shook her head. "No. I heard . . ."

"What did you hear?"

Hermione elbowed Ron in the ribs. "It's okay, we don't have to talk about it right now."

Amia nodded slowly and rested her head back on her knees.

* * *

Amia was still shaken by the time they arrived at Hogwarts. She almost had to be forcefully pulled to her feet to even realize that they'd reached the school. Almost as if she'd just woken from a dream, it was like she was noticing everyone for the first time. Even now after the Dementor had disappeared long ago, she could still see the mark it had left. Ginny looked to be on the verge of tears, Neville couldn't even speak and if he did Amia was certain he'd be stuttering so badly his teeth really would fall out. Ron kept looking around as if it would come back at any moment. Hermione was so pale you could have thrown flour on it and it wouldn't have made a difference. But it was Harry who seemed the worst. Like he would collapse at any moment.

Amia swallowed and reached forward to hold his hand. He closed his eyes and nodded a silent thank you. If it had been anyone else he probably would have told them he was fine, they didn't have to worry.

When they stepped off the train Amia, without realizing what she was doing, headed straight to where Hagrid was calling for the first years. She wrapped her arms around him as much as she could and pressed her face against his coat. It was warm and soft, the exact opposite of the Dementor. "Amia!" He exclaimed in surprise. "Are yeh alrigh'?"

She shrugged and he rested a large hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay. Why don' yeh and the other three come an' talk teh me later?"

"Okay." She moved back so she could see his face. Then out of the blue she grabbed his coat and yanked it so he would lean down and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Bye, Hagrid!"

The chill that had lingered inside her slowly began to vanish as they got closer to the castle. Closer to home. In fact she was feeling well enough to tell Malfoy off and to grin at Professor Lupin when he unexpectedly saved them from engaging in a brawl and to delightedly greet Professor McGonagall who gave her a rare smile and then asked everyone but Ron to come see her in her office.

Apparently Professor Lupin had said that both her and Harry were unwell which warranted an entire examination by Madam Pomfrey. Thankfully they didn't waste too much time on Amia, seeing from her enthusiastic protests that she seemed to be alright. It was a little more difficult for Harry to convince them he was fine, but in the end both of them were excused, leaving them to wonder what the professor needed to talk to Hermione about in private.

In the end they missed the Sorting and Amia was cast into gloom for all of four seconds before Dumbledore stood to speak. Somehow the ancient (to Amia at least) man always gave off an air of safety and comfort. Evidently Harry felt it too because for the first time since the Dementor had come onto the train he looked at ease.

It seemed that the Dementors would be guarding all the entrances of the school, and Dumbledore warned the students to be very careful. Amia frowned. She didn't like the idea of being surrounded by such terrible creatures. Then he announced that Professor Lupin would be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and that Hagrid would be taking over the Care of Magical Creatures position. It took all of Amia's strength not to jump right there and hug the gamekeeper. She resorted to pounding her fists on the table and cheering at the top of her lungs.

The feast was as delicious as always, and when the students were dismissed the four of them fought against the crowd to reach Hagrid. They spoke for a bit and Amia congratulated the giant probably more than two hundred times, and when he crushed them all into a hug she decided that that was all she needed. She didn't have to talk to him about what had happened on the train, she just had to be happy with them all and suffocate in Hagrid's embrace and she was okay.

Back in the common room though, she did feel she needed to tell Ron, Harry and Hermione about it. Even if it wasn't important, she didn't want to risk it turning into something bigger – a secret. She'd had enough of secrets and she didn't want to take any chances to let this year turn out like the last.

"It was my Papa's voice. I heard what he'd done when I first ran away, and I heard what he did in the chamber." Amia said.

"Amia, what did he do before you ran away? You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Harry asked.

She looked at him in surprise, and then the rest of their faces. Right. They didn't know. So she told them. She told them everything about the man on his knees and her Papa's laughter and the shattered mug and running through the cornfield. She tried to find a way to explain it to them. They all looked horrified at the idea that she'd live her entire life with a murderer, but that's not what it was like. He hadn't been a murderer before, at least not to her. He'd always been her Papa. The only person she loved and the only person she trusted. The only person she knew, really.

Amia knew that they were all wondering how he existed and if he'd been destroyed along with the other Tom Riddle in the chamber and how it was that a child like her could have been raised by _Voldemort _and not be awful and evil and twisted. She excused herself to let them discuss it if they wanted to, and went up to bed.

**Please review :)**

**Love,**

**Lost1nTheLight**


	4. PLEASE READ VERY IMPORTANT

**Hi so this is just an author's note and I'm not sure if anyone will be reading it or not, but if you are thank you really so much. I figured that the least I could do was give an explanation for being absent for SO long, so this is it. Basically what happened is at first I just lost the book, and I didn't want to really go around guessing and stuff so I was going to wait to continue writing until I found it or got another copy. But then at the beginning of November of last year I got pretty sick. I missed about half of my classes because of that since then and yeah it was just really, REALLY stressful. Then I thought that things were cool once second semester started because I was getting better and everything was going fine, but I was still missing some classes and had to work on catching up a lot. However just before the last month of the semester I got really sick again and missed about three weeks of classes straight. And just when that happened the administration decided that they couldn't give me any accommodations despite the fact that they'd been able to without any problem last semester. Yeah so basically everything just became a total mess and so I haven't written in a really really long time and I know that. **

**But I wanted to write this to let you guys know that I've started to write again and I've already got the beginnings of the next chapter and I hope I can upload it soon. And if anyone has stuck around after all that and is still waiting to read this story, I sincerely thank you with all of my heart and I also would really like to apologize. It means a lot to me if you're still reading and I will do my very best not to disappoint you again. **

**Thank you so so so much and I'm really truly so sorry.**

**Love, **

**Lost1nTheLight**


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